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Each of the first six months of 2016 set a record as the warmest respective month globally in the modern temperature record, which dates to 1880, according to scientists at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. The six-month period from January to June was also the planet's warmest half-year on record, with an average temperature 1.3 degrees Celsius (2.4 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the late nineteenth century.

2015 was Earth's hottest year on record, according to new data released Wednesday by NOAA and NASA. For the last 12 months the  average surface temperature across the globe was 58.47 Fahrenheit, a 0.23-degree increase from 2014's record-breaking average temperature of 58.24, the two agencies reported.

An analysis of four recent studies of ocean temperatures has corrected some of the discrepancies between climate models that projected higher levels of ocean warming and observational data that turned up lower temperatures, concluding that the higher numbers were right.

The world's oceans are rising in temperature faster than previously believed as they absorb most of the world's growing climate-changing emissions, scientists said Thursday.

The Antarctic Peninsula is not only getting warmer, it's getting dramatically greener with a sharp increase in plant growth over the last 50 years. Key points A study of moss cores sampled from along the eastern side of the peninsula has provided a unique record of how temperature increases over the last 150 years have affected plant growth.

A new peer-reviewed study shows that widespread use of algae in animal feed could help limit the rise in global temperature to 2°C by 2100 and possibly even turn back the clock, bringing atmospheric carbon concentrations down to pre-industrial levels by the end of the century. Algae-based feeds have proven to be equal to or better than other feedstocks in nutritional value and digestibility, and could free large swaths of arable land and simultaneously address food security issues in an era of rising demand for animal proteins.

While national leaders spout optimistic platitudes celebrating the great achievement of the globally unifying Paris Agreement on climate, environmentalists note that there is little in the way of substantial action plans behind the many promises made last December. Meanwhile, the most intense El Niño in history is leaving in its wake a world gripped by 7 months of record high temperatures; drought, water shortages, and famine (especially in India and Africa); wildfires (Fort McMurray, Canada); record coral bleaching; and a fast shrinking Arctic ice cap that set stunning early melt records this winter and spring.

Rising temperatures and changing precipitation are taking a toll on coffee farms worldwide, including the plantations around Mount Kilimanjaro. If the world hopes to sustain its two billion cup-a-day habit, scientists say, new climate-resilient species of coffee must be developed.

Coral reefs around the globe already are facing unprecedented damage due to warmer and more acidic oceans. If carbon dioxide emissions continue to fuel the rise in temperature, the widespread loss of coral reefs by 2050 could have devastating consequences, according to new research published in the scientific journal PLOS. "Some of the places that have the most to lose... are also among the biggest carbon emitters," Dr Pendleton said. "They really have it in their power to bring down the levels of carbon" they emit into the atmosphere. The researchers acknowledged that further study is needed to more fully understand what is happening to coral reefs around the globe and how that will affect humans.

But the fact is that the blockchain is building some serious credibility within the world's biggest banks and financial services firms - they helped fuel more than $1 billion in investments between 2014 and 2016. That visibility has given both established and emerging companies the confidence to experiment. In mid-October, for example, Walmart announced a collaboration with IBM and Tsinghua University in Beijing focused on using the blockchain as a mechanism for authenticating food sources and keeping tabs on all sorts of related data - including the originating farm, batch numbers, processing plant information, expiration dates and storage temperatures.

ust 18 months after its launch, the Science Based Targets initiative announced that 200 companies have committed to set emissions reduction targets consistent with the global effort to keep temperatures well below the 2-degree threshold. In the past year, the initiative has seen a growth rate of over 2 companies per week committing to set science-based targets, far exceeding the project's timeline and signaling that climate action has gained tremendous momentum in the private sector.

The growing acidity of the oceans as they absorb ever more carbon dioxide, a factor exacerbated in the winter, raises concerns for the most basic marine life. An Antarctic study of the bottom of the ocean's food chain involves a mooring as tall as the Empire State Building submerged at 1,600 feet and equipped with sensors recording temperature, dissolved carbon dioxide, salinity and pH.

At a congressional briefing last week, top executives from Ben & Jerry's, Clif Bar, Kellogg Company, Mars Incorporated, PepsiCo, Stonyfield and Unilever discussed how climate change is disrupting global food supplies and their own supply chains. They called on lawmakers to acknowledge the ways in which rising temperatures are impacting their businesses and to act swiftly to reach bipartisan solutions to tackle this threat.

This year may be only half over, but 2016 is already on track to be the hottest year ever on record, with each of the first six months, from January to June, setting new temperature records, NASA officials announced this week.

Last month, an aerial survey of the northern section of Australia's Great Barrier Reef returned some pretty grim results, revealing that the World Heritage Site had been hit with the worst coral bleaching event in its history. The researchers have now continued their work along this magnificent stretch of coastline and the news isn't getting any better. The results of their end-to-end study now reveal that 93 percent of the reef has been affected by bleaching as a result of warmer sea temperatures in the area.

Coca-Cola is using SafeWater electrolyzed water systems in its plants as part of the company's "Doing Good, Doing Well" mission to increase sustainability. The system creates a sodium hydroxide cleaning solution and hypochlorous acid sanitizer by adding a small amount of salt to potable water and applying an electrical current. The fluids can be used to clean and sanitize processing equipment at room temperature, which reduces energy use

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's newest installment, Working Group III: Mitigation and Climate Change, highlights an important message: It's still possible to limit average global temperature rise to 2°C - but only if the world rapidly reduces emissions and changes its current energy mix.

WASHINGTON - President Obama called out climate change deniers in Congress for being weak on defense, saying it would be "dereliction of duty" for the United States to ignore the national security implications of rising global temperatures.